Change of Utilization and Removal of a Baddie

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2018

My current Ex score is 711 and both TU and EQ are at 733. Last reported utilization was 7%. It is now 1% but one of my cards was at a 67% utilization and now it is $0. I have no balance on any of my cards except for on which is at 8%. Also, I am pretty sure Cap One will remove my baddie from my report. They are supposed to get back to me today or Monday but it was from October 2016 and it was a 30 day late for $11.99. I thought I had auto pay but was too lazy to check. What kind of realistic expection can I have in regards to a score change?

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2018

I'd say around 5 points, but not really enough information has been provided here to give a sound guess.

You'd see no gain from the aggregate utilization change, but a small one from the individual card utilization drop most likely, assuming you don't have another high utilization card. What is your next highest utilization card now that the 67% one has been brought to 0%?

As far as the baddie removal goes, it depends on whether or not you have other baddies present on your CR, what severity they are if so and what their age is. For example, if you have even 1 severe negative item present, say a 90 day late payment from 5 years ago, the removal of a 2 year old 30 day late payment would have zero impact on your score at all.

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2018

Here are my other baddies:

May 2017 - 30 Days

May 2016 - 30 Days

August 2016 - 30 Days

September 2016 - 30 Days

Credit Cards

Best Buy Visa - $0 / $1500

Amex Delta Plat - $0 / $7200

Cap One Quicksilver - $0 / $2000

Chase Freedom Unlimited - $500 / $5700

The Chase Freedom is new (approved a month ago) and not yet reporting but will report on 10/24.

It took some time to build up past 700 again. I pulled the trigger on the FU and was instantly approved on 9/25/18. My score at the time was 720. My income from 2016 to present day has went from $55k to $80k. I have student loan debt (about $130k) but never missed a payment on that. I also have an auto loan from a year ago. It is a three year lease. MY AAoA is 4 years 7 months. I have 333 on time payments in all accounts.

As my salary increases I want to travel more and now that I am in a position to use my personal card for work expenses and get reimbursed I want to go for the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I wanted the FU first to build a history with Chase then apply for the card once my score increased a bit. I have a $2500 medical bill I have the cash for and was going to use that towards the SUB. I am not sure of my approval chances but I was thinking if I got denied I would apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred as it would seem a bit easier to acquire based on my DPs. I am also 1/24.

@Anonymous wrote:
I'd say around 5 points, but not really enough information has been provided here to give a sound guess.

You'd see no gain from the aggregate utilization change, but a small one from the individual card utilization drop most likely, assuming you don't have another high utilization card. What is your next highest utilization card now that the 67% one has been brought to 0%?

As far as the baddie removal goes, it depends on whether or not you have other baddies present on your CR, what severity they are if so and what their age is. For example, if you have even 1 severe negative item present, say a 90 day late payment from 5 years ago, the removal of a 2 year old 30 day late payment would have zero impact on your score at all.

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2018

Since you have other 30 day lates present from around the same time, the removal of 1 isn't going to positively impact your score.

I do think you'll pick up about 5-7 points from your highest utilization card going from 67% down to a single-digit amount while your aggregate utilization remains in the ideal range both before/after.

One other thing to consider is that when your new Chase account shows up on your CR, your scores could experience a drop due to the age of accounts factors that may be in excess of the gain from the utilization paydown, resulting in a slight net loss overall. This depends on if your AAoA crosses a threshold as well as your AoYA. Do you know what your AoYA was before the addition of the new account and what your before/after AAoA is/will be?

Anonymous · ‎10-19-2018

My new AAoA will be 4 years and 2 months so a 5 month decrease. The other baddies are from a different lender. I am hoping I can get them removed. I am looking to buy any real estate soon nor do I care about credit card APR as I PIF each month. Just want approvals. Hoping I can get the baddies.